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New Member Plus a Question About My Dogs Age

I've been reading topics on this forum for the last three weeks so I decided I'd join and introduce myself.

First of all I'd like to thank everyone on this forum for putting together all this great information. It's like an endless pit of knowledge!

I got my chocolate lab "Brownie" about 7 months ago with no intentions of him ever being a hunting dog. My wife and I simply wanted a house dog and a friend for our seven year old daughter. He was the perfect addition to our new home!

About a month ago (Brownie was 7 months old) I realized that walks around the block weren't giving him nearly enough physical or mental exercise. They were also getting pretty boring for me as well. I've always enjoyed deer hunting and I also enjoy shooting skeet/sporting clays so I thought what the heck, I'll start training him for waterfowl hunting.

So far it seems to be the perfect way to give him some exercise and keep me entertained as well. Suddenly taking him outside isn't a chore but something we both want to do!

As I mentioned Brownie started this training about a month ago when he was 7 months old. He has pretty much mastered the sit and come on a whistle and is getting "Heel" pretty good (Never bothered to teach him heel until now). He is steady when I throw a bumper and just seems to be picking up everything really quick.

Here is my only concern so far. Did I wait too long to start this training? I have shot guns around him prior to reading up on this whole training thing and I don't exactly remember how he reacted. I've also never introduced him to a bird or even feathers for that matter. I just purchased the "Fowl Dawgs" dvd series along with some 12 gauge primer poppers to introduce him to gun fire the proper way.